The Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, one of the major projects of the Virtual Health Sciences Library, was initiated in response to a pressing need to index health and biomedical journals from the Region. The vast majority of these journals are not currently indexed internationally or abstracts provided. Mapping regional health and biomedical literature will increase its exposure at national, regional and global levels. The Index Medicus is a unique tool for indexing, abstracting, recording, archiving and sharing regional health information.